Re:After many false starts, hydrogen power might now bear fruit
by zamadatix on Saturday July 04, 2020 @04:18PM
(#23734649)
According to the Wikipedia article cited it takes 30 people 10-15 days to clean all 392,158 panels fully. That sounds like $100,000/y in raw wages but it seems to be limited by water supply more than raw labor cost. The dust being cited as 40% of the panel efficiency loss and not always being an issue depending on the season also drives some of that RoI down, looks like a good portion of the loss is due to the heat as well. By far the biggest costs seem to have been with corruption from choice of renewable source to choice of contractor vs operation of the actual installation.
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Re:After many false starts, hydrogen power might now bear fruit
by esperent on Sunday July 05, 2020 @12:53AM
(#23736678)
You're off by a factor of 10 based on wages for cleaners in Pakistan which is about $1/hr.
http://www.salaryexplorer.com/salary-survey.php?loc=164&loct...
Re:After many false starts, hydrogen power might now bear fruit
by zamadatix on Sunday July 05, 2020 @12:06PM
(#23739678)
Using the average number from that source you get 356,000 PKR yearly * 30 people = ~$64,000, even using the low end from that site is only a factor of 2 off not 10. The numbers were actually based of the high end from above in the chain "for one laborer to clean panels is probably about $250-300 a month (USD equivalent, in rupees) in that area. That would be a good wage compared to construction work or farm work in that region." which corresponds very well to the high end from your source of 540,000 pkr.
This comes out to ~$97,000 which is how I came up with about $100,000/y.
Just to note this isn't something you do for just one month per year if that's how you came to a factor of ~10.